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News & Updates
Touching students' lives for 50 years
Betty Volturno’s '65 Bradley University story is an unlikely one. She isn’t from Peoria and didn’t attend Bradley right out of college. She didn’t even grow up on this continent.
Shannon Knoblauch '12 with Betty Volturno '65 at the annual scholarship luncheon.
She came to America – and later Peoria – because of her husband, Domenico Volturno, who she met at a street fair in her home country of England in 1944. Friendly mail correspondence blossomed into love, and the couple married a year later. Before Betty knew it, she was on a boat setting sail for the Statue of Liberty, leaving everything behind minus her British accent.
After Domenico finished schooling on the East Coast, he found a job at Bradley. Betty did not welcome the move, but the family knew they needed to follow the path of employment. Moreover, they did not plan to stay long. They settled in a home near campus that Betty disliked, but it was a short walk for Domenico.
While at Bradley, Domenico noticed fraternity life did not exist for African Americans, and he took action. He was a founder of Bradley’s fraternity chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha. Betty and Domenico chaperoned fraternity events and mentored students. And while Domenico was teaching in the classroom, Betty was busy volunteering with many different facets of university life. From registration to alumni relations, her generous hand touched Bradley campus-wide.
Before long, the Volturno family expanded by the hundreds, including Bradley staff and students. Betty and Domenico’s three daughters grew up on campus and frequently attended university events. In fact, the Volturnos attended the final Bradley football game in 1970.
Domenico connected so well with the basketball players that after his untimely death in 1977, the basketball players honored him by being his pallbearers. It was an emotional time for everyone and a testament to the love and admiration these men had for Domenico.
Following her husband’s death, Betty created a scholarship in Domenico’s name for an incoming freshman that honors both Domenico and the Volturnos’ passion for education.
“Education is very important. And many things in your life – like material things – will go,” Betty said. “But an education will always be with you. No one can ever take that away from you.”
Additionally, the Dr. Domenico Volturno Award, given to a senior who demonstrates excellence in service, is presented at the Senior Reception each May. The Bradley University Alumni Association Awards Committee, along with Betty, have selected junior elementary education major Marcus Belin as the 2009 Volturno Award recipient. By honoring those who give to causes greater than themselves, Betty pays tribute to Domenico and all he has done for Bradley.
“[Bradley is] part of my life. To my husband, that university was his life. He was there, no matter what, for his students,” she said.
The brief Bradley stay the Volturnos had in mind was not so brief. Fifty years after their journey from the East Coast to central Illinois, Betty remains in the same house near campus that she originally didn’t want to purchase. The house is now a home, still complete with Domenico’s books on the shelves, family pictures and a tender spirit that freely floats about the house.
At 87 years old, Betty still lends her compassionate hand to Bradley University and other organizations in the Peoria area. The difference she and Domenico have made can be measured in the hearts they’ve touched and the countless lives they’ve changed.